Lourdes Maurice

Executive Director for Environment and Energy

Dr. Lourdes Maurice was selected as Executive Director of the Office of Environment and Energy in March 2011. In this capacity, she is responsible for developing, recommending, and coordinating national and international standards, policy and guidance, research and studies, and analytical capabilities on aviation environmental and energy matters. In addition, she represents the United States in the International Civil Aviation Organization Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection. Dr. Maurice oversees efforts to establish regulations and standards, provide guidance and technical assistance for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance with applicable Federal environmental and energy statutes and regulations, and develop analytical tools and metrics to assess aviation environmental impacts. She also oversees policy, applied science, and technical research programs to address
aviation's environmental and energy issues.

Dr. Maurice joined the FAA as Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Environment in October 2002. In that capacity, she served as the agency's technical expert for basic and exploratory research, and advanced technology development focused on aircraft environmental impacts and its application to noise and emissions certification and policy, and the application of alternative fuels to mitigate environmental impacts. Dr. Maurice also founded, managed and provided agency technical leadership for the Partnership for Air Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER) Center of Excellence.

Prior to joining the FAA, she served as the Air Force Deputy, Basic Research Sciences and Propulsion Science and Technology in the office of the Deputy Associate Secretary of the Air Force for Science and Technology. Dr. Maurice also worked at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion and Power Directorate from 1983 to 1999 planning and executing basic, exploratory, and advanced development propulsion science and technology programs, focusing on state-of-the-art aviation fuels and propulsion systems. Her areas of expertise include pollutant formation chemistry, combustion kinetics, hypersonic propulsion, and aviation fuels.

Dr. Maurice received her B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of London's Imperial College at London, United Kingdom. She is also a Distinguished Graduate of National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces, where she earned a M.Sc. in National Resource Strategy.

Dr. Maurice has served as a Lead Author for the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the National Academies of Science National Research Council. She was recognized as a contributor to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC in 2007. She is an Associate Editor for American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) Journal of Propulsion and Power and serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Aeroacustics. She has authored over 100 publications and is a 2003 Fellow of AIAA.